Saturday, 29 November 2014

Bamboozled by the hotel choices in New York? We normally stay in apartments when we're on working trips as they have a lot of space and are quite relaxed. This trip however we decided to try out NYC's hotels and there's a lot on offer! Confusion reigned until I came across the Ace Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. It looked super cool online so we simply had to try it out. It didn't disappoint!

There's scaffolding everywhere in New York so don't let that put you off! The location of the hotel was perfect, it's just on the corner of Fifth Avenue on 29th Street and is practically in the shadow of the Empire State Building. You couldn't veer far away from the hotel without tripping over a few major tourist attractions. The Flat Iron, Union Square, Bryant Park, New York Library and the shopping on fifth are all super close. Make no mistake though, despite being in the centre of these touristy attractions this is not a tourist hotel. We occasionally saw people checking in but without this you'd nearly forget that you weren't an actual New Yorker sharing a space with the uber hip folk of NYC. We visit the Big Apple so often we like to pretend we live there so this was just how we like it!!!

The hotel lobby was gorgeous, totally up our street with a mix of industrial and vintage interiors. The staff at The Ace were really welcoming, charming and fun to boot, it was hard to imagine leaving!

The main area in the hotel was jam packed full of busy little New Yorker bee's working away on their Mac laptops, having meetings and drinking buckets of the delicious Stumptown Coffee available on site.

There's a bar at the back and DJ's play every night so this place never gets quiet.

We were so hectic over the few days that we never got to take full advantage of the space as it provided some awesome people watching!

A rare empty seat!!!

There were lots of quirky and beautiful pieces of artwork throughout the hotel.

Our room was a double (in America that's two beds) on the forth floor and for New York hotels it was HUGE!!! Plenty big for 3 ladies, many, many suitcases and a whole lot of clothes! The beds were really comfy and great for the jet lag. All rooms have a record player and radio/player for some extra tuneage. The whole hotel was crammed full of slick interiors and quirky spaces that made it a dream for taking pictures in...it became selfie central!!!

The sound proofing in the hotel was a wonder. Every time the doors opened from the lift into the lobby, we were amazed by the party happening below us which we couldn't hear at all in our bedroom.

Yes that it a Smeg fridge which was fully stocked with tasty but expensive drinks and treats. (This is New York after all!) We just used it to keep our own snacks chilled. A nice touch though.

The Breslin restaurant in the hotel had a really cool fit out, tasty cocktails and food. But with our manic schedule we found the service a little slow. Not a problem if you have more time on a holiday but as this was a buying trip our days were planned with military precision!

So the Ace Hotel was as fabulous as it looks on their website, but does it have a photobooth I hear you ask...

Why yes it does! Who could resist jumping in here for a few snaps...

One more selfie for the road!

One of the art installations within the hotel: This is a gamelteron apparently! It omitted some automated soothing beats and hip New Yorkers could be seen congregating nearby drinking their coffee.

Would we stay again? In a heartbeat!!! New York and the Ace Hotel we miss you desperately... Next visit I'd like more time to be one of those people; working intensively on their laptop in the lobby and drinking too much coffee!

Thursday, 20 November 2014

We are so unbelievably proud and happy to finally be able to share these pictures with you. If they look familiar, you may have seen them on One Fab Day last week, where they gave us a fantastic mention!

But now we can tell you all about them! The shoot was a labour of love between myself and Caroline from Dirty Fabulous and Aga from White Tea.

Caroline and I wanted to create a vintage shoot that was true to our style and the individuality that Dirty Fabulous vintage can offer. We wanted a pop of contrasting colour to be the focus of each look and this was carried through to the make-up and headpieces.

I did the hair and make-up. The make-up was a total contradiction of all those tips you've read about. I contrasted and clashed every colour imaginable: pink shadows with coral lips, yellow shadows with red lips, blues with fuchsia's, coppers and berries. I had a lot of fun with it!

Caroline created all of the turbans and headpieces specifically for this shoot but rest assured she can pretty much imagine up any headpiece you might have in mind for your wedding!

The grand location was Annesbrook, an elegant dame of a Georgian country house in Meath. The space there was amazing and colour palate totally inspiring. We would have loved to have shot some images in their wonderful, rambling gardens but it was such a sunny day that we couldn't get the light right for outside shots. Annesbrook is a really special venue that you can hire for your wedding. Go meet them, have a chat and be won over by the charm and beauty of a country house wedding and the lovely family who own it.

Aga is a good friend of Dirty Fabulous and any time she wants to collaborate we jump at the chance as even though we might be biased we absolutely adore her work! She did Caroline's own engagement shoot which was stunning! Aga would be a wonderful addition to your wedding as she will capture the most stunning, romantic and joyful moments of your big day.

As the title suggests, there's another part to follow full of glamour and cheeky, fun so stay tuned. We hope our much loved pictures brighten up your day!

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

New York City, baby, here we come!!! Team Dirty Fabulous are off to the Big Apple to source more incredible additions to our vintage bridal and occasion wear collection.
We'll be meeting with the very best vintage dealers in the city and exploring the amazing attractions that NYC has to offer!
It will be hard to tear ourselves away...but we must! We'll be open again on the 29th of November with a full report on everything we uncovered along with a boutique crammed with beautiful vintage dresses!
We'll be checking our emails whilst we're away and will answer any queries and appointment requests as soon as we can. You can phone us and leave a message but we won't get to those until we're back in store.
Make sure you get in nice and early after our trip to see our new collection. Saturday 29th and December 6th are fully booked already, sorry! If you've any Christmas shopping to do for yourself or others get in touch, we have oodles of incredible gift ideas and party dresses. See you when we get back!

Monday, 17 November 2014

We're so lucky in Dirty Fabulous to regularly get to work with fantastically creative and like minded people. The team involved with the shoot below are no different! Claire from Studio Brown Photography contacted us in the search for vintage dresses that had a soft and romantic feel and would be in keeping with the Georgian splendour of 12 Henrietta Street. I think you'll agree the results were sublime...

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About Dirty Fabulous

Dirty Fabulous is the only place to go to for devine, one of a kind vintage bridal and occasion wear.
Visit us in our city centre showroom and enjoy a glamorous shopping experience!
We will take the chore out of finding that perfect elusive dress. We have an extensive collection of vintage wedding gowns and party dresses from the 1920s to the 1970's and beyond! Dirty Fabulous also has a range of bespoke bird cage veils and headpieces.
Just phone or email now for an appointment, go on, you know you want to!!!